Iowa Medical Malpractice Lawyers Who Will Not Rest Without Seeking Real Answers
For decades now, the attorneys at Galligan Law have been leaders at the forefront of the fight to get justice for people harmed through medical malpractice in Iowa.
We Value Your Questions After A Bewildering Health Care Outcome
You are right to ask questions and to call us if you or a loved one has suffered a bad outcome in surgery or in another health care context. Asking what happened can lead to answers and some solace, even if a bad outcome was not likely caused by medical malpractice. Before filing a medical malpractice injury claim, our law firm has a nurse-and-doctor team to review steps that were followed before a medical mistake apparently occurred. This process allows us to identify good cases for litigation.
The field of medicine is not perfect. Many negative outcomes cannot be proven to have been caused by negligence. A bad result can sometimes occur despite good care. However, the medical profession tends to use a deny-and-defend posture. You do not have to simply feel blindsided or bewildered without recourse after you or a loved one suffered worsening health after an operation, an emergency room visit or the issuing of a prescription. We help Iowans break through barriers and get answers.
We Offer Experience In A Range Of Birth Injury, Diagnosis, Surgical And Other Medical Error Cases
- Birth injuries, including negligent prenatal/pregnancy care or delivery that results in severe birth injuries – including cerebral palsy and Erb’s palsy
- Improper operative delivery from the use of vacuum extraction or forceps
- Failure to obtain informed consent and advise an expectant mother of material risks and alternatives to vaginal delivery
- Failure to test a pregnant mother for group B streptococcus (GBS) and/or take measures to protect the newborn from pneumonia, meningitis and other life-threatening conditions
- Failure to diagnose cancer and commence treatment in a timely manner
- Surgical errors, including injury to nearby anatomy, operation on the wrong body part, performance of unnecessary surgery, negligent surgical technique, retained surgical devices, failure to obtain informed consent, or failure to properly respond to expected and known surgical complications
- Diagnosis errors and delays, and missed diagnosis of diseases, illnesses, injuries and other treatable conditions
- Radiology errors involving misread or misinterpreted X-rays, MRIs, ultrasound or other test results
- Anesthesia errors
- Communication errors
- Failure to obtain informed consent for a procedure or treatment, including explaining and offering alternatives
- Improper or incorrect treatment
- Prescriptions errors
- Hospital negligence, including nursing malpractice, emergency room errors, and prescription medication errors, and negligent hiring, training or communications
We Carefully Review And Select New Cases
At Galligan Law, we evaluate every potential medical malpractice case through a careful, multistage review process. During our review process, we involve our attorneys, staff, nurse reviewers, and sometimes medical experts to determine if a case has merit and meets our case selection criteria. Our case review process is deliberate, thorough and rigorous because medical malpractice cases are the most complex, expensive, and difficult cases to pursue and win in court. As Des Moines medical malpractice attorneys at Galligan Law, we take our obligation to our clients very seriously.
Our commitment is to only take our clients through the difficult legal process when we believe we can achieve a successful result. Our review of your potential medical malpractice case is free. You will only be charged for costs expended in the review of your case if there ends up being a successful outcome in your case and a financial recovery on your behalf.
First Step – Intake Interview
Our case review process begins with an interview with a member of our staff to gather background and factual information about you, the medical care in question, the resulting harm, and any other pertinent information or any specific concerns you may have. A medical malpractice attorney will then review and evaluate the information you provide, and determine if your case has legal and medical merit and meets our case selection criteria.
If the attorney reviewing the information you provide concludes that your case does not have legal/medical merit or does not meet our case selection criteria, you will promptly be notified so that you can pursue your case with another attorney if you so choose. In some instances, before making a decision, the medical malpractice attorney of Galligan Law arranges for a time to meet with you in person or by phone to learn additional information about you and your case. If the reviewing attorney concludes that your case has merit and meets our case selection criteria, we will begin the process of collecting relevant medical records and engaging in a merit evaluation by an experienced and qualified nurse reviewer.
Step Two – Medical Records Gathering And Nurse Review
With authorization from you, we will contact all relevant medical providers and obtain your medical records for review. We will advance any costs associated with obtaining your medical records. You will only be required to reimburse these costs if there is a successful outcome in your case involving a financial recovery on your behalf. The process of obtaining medical records usually takes 30 to 60 days, depending on the medical provider involved. Our staff will diligently follow up with unresponsive medical providers to make sure that your records are collected as quickly as possible.
Once we have obtained all relevant medical records, an experienced and qualified nurse reviewer will carefully evaluate the records and conduct any necessary medical research to determine if the medical records will support a case for medical malpractice. The nurse review process usually takes 30 days to complete. Often, our nurse reviewer determines that important records are missing or additional records must be obtained for a complete evaluation, delaying the process. Great care is taken by reviewers at Galligan Law to ensure we have complete information before making a determination on whether a case meets our criteria for moving forward.
If our nurse reviewer, in consultation with a medical malpractice attorney, determines that your case does not have sufficient merit, we will inform you promptly of our decision and, upon request, provide you with a complete copy of your medical records that we’ve obtained. You will not be charged for our review if we decline to take your case.
If we determine that your case has merit, based upon our nurse review and consultation with our medical malpractice attorney, then the next step will be to send your case out for evaluation by a highly qualified expert(s) in the area(s) of medicine involved in your case.
Step Three – Expert Review
With decades at the forefront of Iowa medical malpractice law, Galligan Law has developed networks and relationships nationwide that provide access to highly qualified experts in every area of medicine. We only work with experts who are highly qualified in their medical specialty, who will evaluate medical malpractice cases based on sound science and current medical standards of care, and who will give us candid and unvarnished opinions about your case.
The expert review process usually takes 30 to 60 days or more depending on the number of different medical specialties involved and the schedules of the reviewing expert(s). We will advance any costs associated with obtaining an expert review of your case. You will only be required to reimburse these costs if there is a successful outcome in your case involving a financial recovery on your behalf.
If expert review(s) do not support a case for medical malpractice, we will notify you promptly that we will not be able to pursue your case. We will, upon request, provide you with copies of your medical records that we’ve obtained.
If our expert reviews support a meritorious medical malpractice case, we will recommend moving forward with the filing of a medical malpractice lawsuit against responsible health care providers.
We Stay Up To Date Through Continued Learning And Education In Medicine And Advocacy
We Maintain Active Memberships In National Medical Malpractice Attorney Groups
We Hope To Hear From You: Talk With A Highly Respected Iowa Medical Negligence Attorney
Our proven attorneys have gained the highest respect of the courts, defense lawyers and insurance companies for our experience, advocacy, competence and skill in fighting for our clients in medical malpractice cases. If you or a loved one has suffered serious harm or death as the result of medical malpractice, please reach out to request a free consultation with a proven Iowa medical malpractice attorney today. Contact us to have your medical malpractice case carefully reviewed by leaders in Iowa medical malpractice law.